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Windling
The Windling are a Fairy-like, playable race in the tabletop RPG Earthdawn. Description Windling are small, winged creatures. They average 18 inches in height and weigh an average of 13 pounds. They fly using two double-wings, similar to a dragonfly's, made of a tough, iridescent membrane. A windling's wings and hair, and sometimes even skin color, matches the brightest-colored elements of the environment in which it lives: icy white in a snowcap, the yellow and orange of meadow flowers, the glazed blue of the ceramic roof-tiles of the city of Vewbane. This coloration only changes after a windling has lived in the same place for two or three months. Then, in the space of three nights, the windling's skin changes to match its current surroundings. Windlings grow very little body hair, though their head hair can be luxurious. Their ears come to a sharper point even than elven ears. Windlings mature physically over 30 years, reaching a natural life span of 170 years. Their appearance does not age during this time. Windling society can best be described as haphazard. Windlings often speak of a class of nobles who rule them. Though they will obey a direct order from a noble, the social hierarchy stops there. Windlings acting on orders from their queen cannot wield authority over other windlings by virtue of these orders, but may persuade other windlings to seek out the queen to determine for themselves that the orders are legitimate. Windlings are happiest when living outdoors, taking shelter under or inside whatever nature can provide and windling magic make comfortable. Windlings can tolerate cities, but consider them a colossal waste of time and effort. There are more male windlings than female windlings, tough there is not a good explanation for this oddity. Because of this, if more than one male wishes to wed a female, the clan holds a contest they call a sleerah. Once every contestant has completed the competition, the female selects her husband from among the males, or may choose none at all! Racial abilities The racial abilities of a Windling are as follows: *Astral-Sensitive Sight *Flight *'Increased Physical Defense of +2:' Small size increases the Physical Defense of windlings by 2. *'Maximum Strength Value of 11:' Their size limits windlings to a maximum (unmodified) Strength Attribute of 11. This means all windlings have a maximum Strength Attribute Value, modified for race, of 7. Astral-Sensitive Sight The Windling can sense changes in astral space. Astral-sensitive sight is an act of magical Perception, translating sensory information into visual cues. The individual does not use his or her physical eyes for astral-sensitive sight; a blind windling could still "see" astrally. Sensing in this way requires a little effort. A character gets a bonus action to use astral-sensitive sight by making a Perception Test. The character "sees" the astral imprint of every object within his field of vision, to a range of 10 yards, with a Spell Defense less than or equal to the Perception Test result. If the player makes a Perception Test with a result of the minimum possible for his character, the character suffers Strain. The Strain causes 1 point of damage. The character continues to see the astral imprint of other characters and objects as long as they stay within range. If the character looks somewhere else, or if additional characters and objects enter into astral-sight range, the character must make a new Perception Test to see the new astral imprints. Flight Windlings fly at a movement rate based on their Dexterity Attribute Value plus 2. For example, a windling with a Dexterity of 13 uses a flying movement rate based on a Dexterity of 15. While windlings can fly, they do not use it as their primary method of movement. Windlings tire quickly when flying and so usually limit their flight to approximately 20 minutes. At 20 minutes, the character may suffer Strain from flying. For each minute after 20 that the character continues to fly, he must make a Toughness test against a Difficulty Number of 7. If he fails the test, the character takes 1 point of Strain damage. Each period of 5 minutes beyond the initial 20 also adds 2 to the Difficulty Number of the Toughness Test. A windling must rest for the same number of minutes that he has spent flying in order to resume flying without Strain. For example, if a windling character flies for 15 minutes, he must rest for 15 minutes before flying again to avoid Strain damage. Windling characters cannot carry more than up to half their normal Carrying Capacity while flying. A character who tries to carry more than this amount while flying is considered Encumbered. In addition to reducing his Dexterity, reduce the Encumbered windling's Toughness Attribute in the same way. Though windlings' wings are very durable, when they get wet the wings become heavy and fragile, and severely limit the windling's ability to fly. In game terms, this lowers the windling's Physical Defense by 2, and the player must make a Strength Test against a Difficulty Number of 13 to determine if the character can fly at all. If the windling is able to fly with wet wings, for each period of 5 minutes that he flies, he must make a Toughness test against a Difficulty Number of 9. If he fails the test, the windling takes 2 points of Strain damage. These rules only apply if the windling's wings become soaked with water, as would happen if he fell into a river or stream. Fortunately, windling wings dry very quickly, usually within 10 minutes. Culture Language The standard language of the Windlings is considered to be slightly harder to read and write than that of many other higher races, though there are other dialects that may be even more difficult. It is considered harder than Dwarf (considered the easiest of the higher race languages to read and write), as well as the slightly more complex languages of the Elves, Humans, Ork, and Troll. It is considered on par with the complexities of the languages of both the Obsidimen and the T'skrang. Disciplines Windlings are known to take on the disciplines of Air Sailor, Archer, Beastmaster, Cavalryman, Elementalist, Illusionist, Scout, Swordmaster, Thief, Troubadour, Warrior, Weaponsmith, or Wizard. However, due to their lively lifestyles, no known Windling has ever been found to be either a Nethermancer or a Sky Raider. Category:Earthdawn Universe Category:Creatures Category:Fictional Creatures Category:Sapient Beings Category:Humanoids Category:Fairies Category:Unknown Diet Category:Magical Creatures